Closure cap



0a. 18, 1932. 4 E. SCOFIELD 1,882,995

CLOSURE CAP Filed Feb. 12, 1930 I WWWmumn1nmImamM/I/M/U/fi/W/MWFQ u 9! 9L m in. mum

INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 18, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE-EDGAR SCOFIELD, OF YORK, N. Y., .ASSIGNOR TO ANCHOR CAP & CLOSURE CORPO-RATION, 0F LONG ISLAND CITY, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK CLOSURECAP Application filed February 12, 1930. Serial No. 427,669.

The present invention relates to closures and more particularly to aclosure cap of the friction type.

In the manufacture of glass containers such as tumblers of the lessexpensive grades. the sizes usually vary from the exact mold standardand are,to a certain extent, oval or elliptical at the mouth thereof.This deviation is termed permissible variation in size and out-of-round.The tolerated range of such imperfections is about thirty thousandths ofan inch. Frequently, also, the container sealing surface is slightlytapered, creating a tendency for the cap to cam itself oil". Such defectis most pronounced adjacent the rim of the container. Since theinspection and crating must be done rap- .idly, it is almost impossibleto exclude the containers which exceed this range of tolerance. Closurecaps also vary in size and are capable of conforming only to limitedvariations in size of containers.

It is customary to pack certain products, such as jellies, in containersof the tumbler type. A friction closure cap may be used since a hermeticseal is not necessary to preserve the products. The skirts of these capsare retained resiliently against the upper side wall of the container.Various forms of skirts have been devised to improve the holding abilityof the caps to the containers and to take up the necessary variations,but these have been only partially successful.

The difficulty encountered in the use of these caps is due to the factthat a cap of maximum size will not hold snugly upon a container ofminimum size. On the other hand, a cap will frequently crush before theskirt can expand over a maxlmum size con-' tainer. Of course, furtherdifficulties are encountered because containers beyond the range ofpermissible tolerance are not rejected when crated. Thus, imperfectcontainers are included in the shipment to the packer. The caps will,therefore, fail to fit on the imperfect containers and will sometimes becrushed during the sealing operation and will not be properly sealed.Such misfits often cause the containers to be broken and the contentsthereof to be spilled. The failure of caps of this type now on themarket is due to the fact that the skirts thereof are not adapted toyield and conform to and hold on to containers varying from a standardsize. Certain caps, which have comparatively resilient skirts, areimperfect because they do upon containers of a large range of variationsin size.

Another object of the invention is to provide a friction cap having asubstantially resilient skirt that will yield and conform to fit andhold upon either a container of maximum or minimum size.

Another object of the invention is to provide a cap having a skirt Withtwo annular corrugated zones adapted to conform to Variations incontainer sizes and grip the containers tightly when applied.

Another object of the invention is to provide a friction cap which canbe readily ap' plied, which forms a tight seal and which can be easilyremoved Without breaking the container.

Another object of the invention is to provide a Wide sealing contact asubstantial distance below the rim of the container to minimize theeffect upon the seal of defects at the rim of the container.

A further object of the invention is to eliminate or minimize thebreakage of containers and the spilling of the contents thereof duringthe application of the caps and shipment of the packages.

Other and further objects of the invention Will be obvious upon anunderstanding of the illustrative embodiment about to be described orwill be indicated in the appended claims,

and various advantages not referred to herein will occur to one skilledin the art upon employment of the invention in practice.

A preferred embodiment of the invention has been chosen for purposes ofillustration and description and is shown in the accompanying drawing,forming a part of the specification, wherein Fig. 1 is a sideelevational view, partly in section, of a closure cap in accordance withthe present invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view, on the line 2-2 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the projections on the outsideof the skirt of the cap Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3, showing thecorrugations as they appear on the inner side of the skirt;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of a closure cap aboutto be applied to a container; and

Fig. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of a sealed container,illustrating how the projections engage the side walls of a container.

Referring again to the drawing, there is shown a closure cap having acover portion 1 and a depending skirt 2. The external diameter of thecover portion is substantially larger than the external diameterof thecontainer at the sealing zone. The upper part of skirt of the cap adacent the cover portion is knurled or corrugated, as shown at 4, andpressed inwardly toward the side wall or sealing zone of a glasscontainer 5. The upper knurled zone 4 .forms an annular space betweenthe rim of the container and the skirt of the cap. This zone merges intoa second corrugated zone 6 in the lower part of the skirt.

The second zone 6 is flared outwardly to facilitate the application ofthe cap to the container. The corrugations in the second zone areslightly wider circumferentially and also deeper to increase theexpansibility of the skirt of the cap so that it will accommodatesubstantial variations in size of containers. The depth of thecorrugations lengthwise thereof decreases toward the top thereof; thatis, the corrugations are deeper at the bottom than at the top. By reasonof this difference in depth at the respective ends, the internalsurfaces of the zone of corrugations is substantially cylindrical with aslight flare at the bottom.

The increased depth and size of the cor.- rugations give a greaterresilience to the lower portion of the skirt and facilitate the application to a container. After the cap is seated on the container itrights itself, making further application easier, and permits the morerigid part of the skirt to telescope over the container. A rolled edge 7at the bottom of the skirt provides an additional taken son of thedecrease flare and gives a finished appearance to the cap. Theangularity of the upper zone of corrugations reinforces the skirt of thecap and prevents it from collapsing under the pressure required to applythe cap. The annular recess formed by the upper zone affords a seat fora sealing disc or liner 8 and prevents it from falling out of the capduring shipment. I

When the cap is telescoped about the mouth of the glass container, theinner projections or surfaces 9 of the lower portion of the skirt gripthe side wall of the container. If the container is slightly oversizedor outof-round, as shown in Fig. 6, the skirt will expand to conform tothe side wall of the container. If the container is undersized, theprojections will still engage the container, as they extend inwardly asubstantial distance. The increased depth of the corrugations at thebottom of the skirt facilitates the initial telescoping or applicationand facilitates the further downward movement of the cap upon acontainer. As the sealing zone of the container continues to pass alongthe lower corrugations 9, a tighter grip is formed by reain the size ofthe skirt and decrease in the depth At the junction of the twocorrugated zones the greatest grip is obtained. The grip is, therefore,a substantial distance below the rim of the container and is notmaterially affected by the usual defects at the rim. The outwardlyprojecting portions at the to and bottom of the skirt facilitate removalby tapping. The skirt of the cap may be tapped with a knife or otherinstrument to stretch the sealing zone without danger of breaking thecontainer.

In the sealing operation, the caps are usually placed manually upon thecontainers as they pass along a conveyor to the sealing machine. Thelower portion of the skirt grips the containers lightly and prevents thecaps from canting, or otherwise becoming disarranged, before the finalsealing. When the caps are further applied to the containers, the lowercorrugated zone frictionally engages the side walls of the container.There is no danger of this construction being released from thecontainer accidentally.

It will be seen that the present invention provides a friction seal capwhich is adapted to accommodate a greater range of variations in size ofglass containers than other caps on the market. The shape of thecorrugations and the co-ordination of the two rows of corrugations ofdifferent resiliency are such that the skirt of the cap is veryresilient. The caps present a large surface area of corrugations againstthe side walls of the container a'substantial distance below the rim ofthe container, thus increasing the security of the seal. Thedifficulties heretobefore encountered in applying caps to containersouteof-round also by reason of the of the corrugations.

have been greatly minimized. The per cent of breakage of containersduring the sealing operation is reduced, thereby decreasing the cost ofthe sealed packages. These caps, when sealed upon containers, canwithstand the rough usage to which they are subjected without becomingdisarranged.

As various changes may be made in the form, construction, andarrangement of parts without departing from the spirit and,;sc'ope ofthe invention and without sacrificing its advantages, it is to beunderstood that all matter herein is to be interpreted as illustrativeand not in a limiting sense.

l laving thus described my invention, I claim:

'1. As an article of manufacture, a closure cap comprising a coverportion and a depending skirt, said skirt being provided with a pair ofrows of inwardly extending corrugations about the circumference thereofto per mit the expansion of the skirt, a row of corrugations extendingdownwardly and flaring inwardly and a row of corrugations extendingupwardly and flaring inwardly to provide a zone of minimum diametersubstantially above the middle of the skirt.

2. As an article of manufacture, a closure cap comprising a coverportion, a depending skirt and an annular zone of corrugations flaredinwardly from the upper portion of said skirt, and a second zone ofcorrugations flared inwardly from the lower portion of the skirt adaptedto engage the side wall of the container, said zones meeting at theminimum diameter of said cap.

3. As an article of manufacture, aclosure cap comprising a coverportion, a depending skirt, and corrugations on the upper and lowerportions of said skirt, said corruga tions on the lower portion beingpressed further inwardly than the corrugations on the upper portion ofsaid skirt and merging therewith to provide a substantially resilientcontainer engaging rib.

4. As an article of manufacture, a closure cap comprising a coverportion and a depending skirt, upper and lower annular zones ofcorrugations on said skirt, and a substantially resilient containerengaging rib provided by the junction of said corrugated zones at theminimum diameter of said skirt, the corrugations on said lower zonesbeing pressed further inwardly than corrugations on said upper zones toengage the side wall of a container.

5. A closure cap comprising a cover portion and a depending skirt, anannular corrugated zone on the upper portion of said skirt, a secondannular corrugated zone in the lower portion of said skirt instruckfurther and of greater resiliency than said upper zone and adapted toengage and grip the side wall of a container, and an expansible therebybeing more resilient than said friction rib extending circumferentiallybetween said zones.

6. A closure cap comprising a cover portion and a depending skirt, anannular zone of narrow vertical corrugations at the upper portion ofsaid skirt, and a second annular zone of corrugations of greater widthat the lower portion of said skirt adapted to grip a container,saidupper zone being adapted to engage the container with a tighter gripthan said lower zone.

7. A closure cap comprising a cover portion and a depending skirt, anannular zone of narrow vertical corrugations at the upper portion ofsaid skirt, and a second annular zone of corrugations of greater widthat the lower portion of said skirt, said lower zone extending furtherinwardly than said upper corrugations.

8. A closure cap comprising a cover portion and a depending skirt, anannular zone of narrow vertical corrugations at the upper portion ofsaid skirt, a second annular zone of corrugations of greater width atthe lower portion of said skirt, and a container gripping rib of minimumdiameter extending circumferentially between said zones, said lower zonebeing adapted to conform to and center the cap upon a container and theupper 95 zone and said rib being adapted to conform to and engage theside wall of the container to provide a tighter grip than said lowerzone.

9. A closure'cap comprising a. cover portion and a depending skirt, anannular zone of narrow vertical corrugations at the upper portion ofsaid skirt, a second annular zone of corrugations of greater width andresiliency at the lower portion of said skirt extending further inwardlythan said upper corrugations.

10. As an article of manufacture, a closure cap comprising a coverportion and a depending skirt, an annular zone of narrow verticalcorrugations at the upper portion of said skirt, a second annular zoneof corrugations of greater width and resiliencyat the lower port-ion ofsaid skirt extending further inwardly than said upper corrugations, anda gripping rib at the minimum diameter of said skirt extending betweensaid zones of corrugations, said rib and one of said zones being adaptedto rest circumferentially against the side wall of a container.

11. A closure cap comprising a cover portion and a depending skirt,upper and lower annular zones of corrugations on said skirt for engagingthe side wall of a container, said lower corrugations being wider anddeeper upper corrugations.

12. As an article of manufacture, a closure cap comprising a coverportion and a depending skirt, an inwardly converging corrugated zone atthe upper portion of said skirt and an outwardly flared zone at thelower portion of said skirt, said lower zone being provided withinstruck corrugations of greater Width and depth and extending furtherinwardly with respect to said skirt than the corrugations in said upperzone.

EDGAR SCOFIELD.

